A framework for writing learning agreements.

Active learning is a popular concept for motivating learning. Learning agreements are one strategy towards this goal. They can be used to aid the students to take ownership of their learning and in becoming more active in a course. Learning Agreements are especially useful tools for scaffolding learning in courses with a focus on developing the professional competencies of students, such as in Open Ended Group Projects, Work Integrated Learning or other authentic learning contexts. Such educational contexts are complex and we have found it necessary to scaffold student learning using agreements based on professional competencies. This has led to a pedagogical framework, which has found successful application in a number of contexts. This framework has been built based on discussions with students, and has involved the development of a supporting wiki which contains descriptions of the different professional competencies involved in the learning agreement. The IT based framework has been iteratively developed together with the students taking the course in the fall of 2015. The development and assessment of this framework is contrasted in the context of two courses using learning agreements, one (in Sweden) with a focus on development of professional competencies and the other (in New Zealand) addressing a mix of professional competencies and subject knowledge in a work integrated learning setting

Investigation into the use of learning agreements to enhance stakeholder engagement and promote self-efficacy in computing education.

We examine controversial issues surrounding the locus of control in the implementation of learning agreements, plans or contracts, in the context of the U.K. university-level Graduate Apprenticeship scheme. We begin by giving an account of the stakeholders and their positions as well as their motivating principles as they strive to maintain their respective loci of control with regard to the negotiation of the learning agreement. We then describe the idiomatic challenges to implementation of a learning agreement and subsequent plan in work-based learning environments with a range of employers from different sectors. An investigation into the manner in which learning agreement tenets are changed due to competing pressures on the various stakeholders leads to a discussion of challenges to successful prioritisation of the learning plan that occur as a result of mutually exclusive requirement sets. We discuss the challenges that may present themselves in which the requirements of one set of stakeholders appear to conflict with others and the questions that are raised as those involved seek to ensure suitable standards of academic quality in difficult cases. Finally, we discuss whether learning agreements are the most appropriate operational instruments for maintaining standards in these circumstances

Improving Hybrid Brainstorming Outcomes with Scripting and Group Awareness Support

Previous research has shown that hybrid brainstorming, which combines individual and group methods, generates more ideas than either approach alone. However, the quality of these ideas remains similar across different methods. This study, guided by the dual-pathway to creativity model, tested two computer-supported scaffolds – scripting and group awareness support – for enhancing idea quality in hybrid brainstorming. 94 higher education students,grouped into triads, were tasked with generating ideas in three conditions. The Control condition used standard hybrid brainstorming without extra support. In the Experimental 1 condition, students received scripting support during individual brainstorming, and students in the Experimental 2 condition were provided with group awareness support during the group phase in addition. While the quantity of ideas was similar across all conditions, the Experimental 2 condition produced ideas of higher quality, and the Experimental 1 condition also showed improved idea quality in the individual phase compared to the Control condition